Strong Enough
by Random1377
Summary: Short Naruto/Sakura WAFF piece for the Heaven and Earth fanfic contest. Tied for first place.


Disclaimer: the rights to the anime and manga series _Naruto_ are owned by Shonen Jump. Should they, or any of their affiliates, request it, this not-for-profit story will be taken off line as quickly as possible.

Strong Enough

By Random1377

It was winter in Konoha, and while there was a bite in the air it wasn't cold enough to send people running indoors. The day prior, ice had crusted the tops of pools and troughs, but things had warmed a bit, bathing the entire village in the moist, balmy feel semi-melted snow generates. Asking any of the old-timers would have generated commentary on the fact that this was the warmest winter they had ever seen, or declarations that they didn't even feel the cold.

Naruto sure felt cold, blowing into his hands and rubbing them briskly together to warm them as he and Sakura trudged through the woods on the outskirts of the village. They had come out to do some sparring, but it had come to an abrupt conclusion when an errant swing on Sakura's part had splintered the trunk of a tree, raining icy, slushy snow down the back of Naruto's shirt.

He cast a glance at her bare shoulders, marveling once more at the sight of lazy curls of steam rising up from her skin every time a snowflake hit it. "How do you _do_ that?" he asked, pointing to a line of vapor mere seconds before it dissipated. "That's so cool."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I've explained it to you three times already," she said dryly. "Three times _today_."

Grinning, Naruto said, "Tell me again. I like it when you explain it."

With a sigh, Sakura cleared her throat. "It's chakra control," she said tiredly. "You regulate the flow so that the blood in your body is moving faster around your extremities, thereby keeping your body warm. And before you ask, yes, you can do it in reverse in the summer, ok?"

"Isn't it bad for you?" Naruto wondered, trying to sound intelligent, even though he really didn't get how she did what she did. "I mean, isn't it bad if your blood is moving too fast? Doesn't it hurt your heart or something?"

Sakura shook her head, then hesitated and said, "Well, it _can_, if you do it too much or if you let it get back into your heart going to fast. You have to be really careful with it."

With an openly worshipping look, Naruto said, "You're so cool."

Waving one hand, Sakura dismissed his praise. "It took me a long time to figure it out," she said modestly. "And really, it's only useful up until it gets to be freezing. After that, you'd have to have your blood almost flying to make a difference, and that's dangerous if you don't know what you're doing."

"I'll bet you could do it," Naruto said confidently. "Even obaa-chan says you have the best chakra control of anyone she's ever met."

"It's Hokage-_sama_," Sakura corrected him, "not oba-san. Have some respect, for crying out loud."

Naruto tried not to look sarcastic as he said, "Yes ma'am," but he wasn't sure he was entirely successful.

After allowing a few moments for his faux pas to pass by, he cleared his throat and made a thoughtful, offhanded observation.

"Valentine's day is coming up pretty soon."

Sakura pursed her lips, sensing where the conversation was headed. "Yeah, in like, a month and a half."

Pressing on in spite of her daunting tone, Naruto said, "You know, in the Water Country, things go the other way—guys take their girlfriends out on Valentine's Day, and then the girls take their boyfriends out on White Day."

"Fascinating," Sakura replied neutrally. "I never knew you were so interested in the cultures of other countries."

Naruto laughed weakly. "So, er, I was thinking maybe this year, umm… I could take you out on Valentine's day."

Without missing a beat, Sakura said, "Wouldn't that require that I be your girlfriend?"

"Aww come on," Naruto groaned. "I've been asking you out for like, ever! Gimme a chance, Sakura! Just one chance!"

"Fine," Sakura said, coming to an abrupt stop, "you want a chance? Here it is."

She turned on the spot and lashed out at a nearby boulder, driving her fist into it and sending chunks of rock flying in every direction, a satisfied smile lighting her face as a crack rent the huge rock from top to bottom.

"You want a date?" she asked him primly. "Break that other boulder over there for me to show me that you're strong enough, and _I'll_ take _you_ out. For ramen. On me. Deal?"

Though his smile stayed in place, Naruto's eyebrow twitched a bit as he stared at the sister boulder to the one Sakura had pulverized. "Like, break a chunk off?" he ventured, "Or-"

"Nope," Sakura cut in immediately. "Break it."

Shrugging, Naruto said, "Fine. I break the rock, you go out with me. Deal."

"Deal." Sakura echoed, holding her hand out for Naruto to shake. "Oh, and you have to do it in three days—and no rasen _anything_. I want it broken, not atomized."

Naruto's smile grew a touch fixed. "Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Releasing his hand, Sakura turned around and started to walk away. "I'm going to be training at the hospital with Tsunade-sama," she informed him. "I'll see you around."

Folding his arms over his chest, Naruto countered, "Don't leave town or anything. I'll need to know where to find you when I break it in a day!"

"See ya later," Sakura called, waving one hand over her shoulder and not bothering to reply to his bravado

"Soon!" Naruto shouted after her, cupping his hands around his mouth to make sure she heard. "You'll see me _soon!_"

Turning to the boulder, Naruto let out a long, low whistle. It was big, dense, and intimidating, practically threatening him with its vastness. 'Break _me_?' it seemed to ask. 'I've withstood the ages, little boy—you might as well try to break a mountain!'

"This is gonna be so easy," Naruto snorted, pulling his sleeve up and balling his hand into a fist. "One broken rock, coming up!"

"So it's broken in _how_ many places?"

Naruto groaned, bowing his head to avoid Rock Lee's eyes as the medical nin finished bandaging his hand.

"I'd say 'shattered' would be a better word," the medic commented, shooting Lee a disapproving look. "Though I'll bet he didn't break it doing something stupid like walking around the village on his hands, like _some_ people."

Shikamaru, who had helped Naruto stagger to the hospital after finding him passed out in front of the bolder, thoughtfully informed them, "He broke it trying to impress a girl."

The medical nin rolled his eyes. "Forget what I just said."

"How did I know I'd find you here?"

Naruto sank further in his seat. "Hey Sakura," he said with deceptive casualness, "How's it going?"

The pink haired ninja leaned against the doorframe, looking him up and down before replying, "Better than you, it looks like. Honestly, did you just try to pound the rock with your bare hand, or something stupid like that?"

The sickly smile Naruto gave her was all the answer she needed.

"Unbelievable," Sakura chuckled. "I thought you'd at least _think_ before you tried to smash a rock. I should have remembered who I was talking to. Well," she said pragmatically, "considering how fast you heal, you'll have to forgive me for not having much sympathy for you. Get better soon. You still have two and a half days."

"Two and three quarters!" Naruto corrected immediately.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura glanced at Shikamaru. "Good luck," she said, more to the lazy nin than to Naruto, "you're in for a long two and three quarters days."

Shikamaru nodded. "So you know I'll be helping him, right?" he asked, stifling a yawn as Sakura turned to leave. "He'll never figure it out himself, you know, and besides… he practically kissed my feet when I said he would need help. If I left him alone, he'd be out in the streets begging strangers for help."

"Do what you want," Sakura said over her shoulder. "Just make sure he doesn't crack his skull or something."

"I'll do my best, but I make no guarantees. He's kind of an idiot."

Naruto shot Shikamaru a dirty look. "I can _hear_ you, you know."

Lacing his hands behind his head, Shikamaru leaned up against the wall. "Good," he yawned. "Now I know you're not stupid _and_ deaf."

After a moment of quiet, Naruto said, "So you're gonna help me?"

"Only if you promise to stop groveling," Shikamaru sighed. "Honestly, have a little self respect. Besides, if I leave it to you, you'll end up doing something dumb like trying to carry the boulder to a cliff and dropping it off." He raised one eyebrow as Naruto looked surprised. "That was gonna be your next move, wasn't it? You're hopeless."

"I'll help too!"

Naruto nearly jumped out of his seat. "Fuzzy Brows," he gasped, covering his heart dramatically with his uninjured hand. "I forgot you were here."

Clenching his fist in a show of might, Lee declared, "Though you are my rival for Sakura's affections, I cannot stand by while the fires of youth burn before my very eyes! As Konoha's beautiful green beast, honor _demands_ that I support you in your manly quest!"

"Ahem," the medical nin cleared his throat, fixing Naruto's bandage in place with an alligator clip before rising to his feet and gathering his supplies. "Not that I think you'll listen to me," he said dryly, "but my discharge advice to _both_ of you is to avoid any 'manly quests' for at least the next two weeks while your injuries heal." Cracking his back, he muttered, "God, I should have been a vet."

Lee's help consisted of some thoughtful ideas involving hardening Naruto's fists in barrels of rice and running around the village with rocks strapped to his arms. Unfortunately (or fortunately, in Naruto's opinion), the mighty green beast and his cell were called away on a mission after less than a day of training, leaving him solely in Shikamaru's care.

The heir to the Nara clan had remained mostly silent while Lee 'trained' Naruto to hit harder, offering only shrugs and nods any time Naruto talked to him as he puzzled out the problem in his head. What Lee was teaching was fine for taijutsu, Lee's specialty, but Shikamaru worried that it wouldn't really do much good in a toe to toe fight with a boulder.

Instead of paying too much attention, he turned the task over in his mind, analyzing it, Naruto's strengths and weaknesses, and even Sakura's motivations, until his head felt like a steel band was tightening around it and his eyes were strained from rolling.

"So what now?" Naruto asked several hours after Lee's departure.

They had made their way back to where the boulder sat undamaged and defiant in the chill winter afternoon. Naruto swore that after Lee's training, he had managed to dislodge a few chunks with some good solid hits from his left hand, but Shikamaru blithely informed him that they had been on the ground the entire time, and had in fact come from the other boulder that Sakura had broken as a demonstration.

"The problem isn't force," the lazy nin said, kicking at a few of the pebbles on the ground, "it's delivery."

Naruto nodded sagely, then—completely straight-faced—said, "I don't get you."

Shikamaru sighed.

"See, Sakura concentrates chakra in her fist and then just pounds the hell out of it," he explained, giving Naruto's fist a significant glance. "And clearly, we've seen that that's not gonna work for you, so we need to find another way to get it done." He rubbed his eyes. "The way I see it, you need to figure out a way to find the fracture line and-"

"What's a fracture line?"

Shikamaru paused, glanced at Naruto to see if he was kidding, then slowly sat down on the ground and began drawing in the snow with the tip of his finger, mumbling, "I'll explain it later."

Naruto craned his neck to see what his friend was writing, but as far as he could tell it was just a stick figure with spiky hair and X's for eyes getting hit with a large rock.

"So you're saying I should headbutt it?" he asked uncertainly.

Scrubbing out the picture, Shikamaru shot him a look that might have killed a lesser (or more aware) person. "The way I see it," he said, ignoring Naruto's question completely, "we've got a two part problem. We've established that you can't just punch the rock as hard as you can—you're going to need to find the rock's weakest point (that's the fracture line by the way) and hit it harder than you normally would. So in essence, I guess, you need to outsmart the rock." He looked up at Naruto, then over at the boulder. "…unfortunately, I think the rock has a tactical advantage on that front."

Closing his eyes, he touched his thumbs and his fingers together, making a circle as he tried to figure out the best way to attack their problem.

"If it was a person," he muttered after a few moments, "we could probably ask Neji or Hinata to read the weaknesses with a bayakugen, but I don't know if that would work on a rock."

"And Neji's out on a mission," Naruto added in what he hoped was a helpful tone. "I don't know about Hinata, anyway. She's always so flustered when I'm around."

Shikamaru cracked one eye open and focused it on Naruto, trying to decide if the blond was really that naïve. When it became clear that he was, Shikamaru closed his eye again and let out a deep sigh.

"It's too bad you can't just make a bunch of clones and have them think about this with us," he grumbled, rising to his feet and dusting off the back of his pants. "Guess that only works when you're developing a new jutsu, huh."

Naruto nodded unhappily. Sure, having a hundred copies of himself had been great for coming up with the rasenshiriken, but in this instance, they would just be a waste of chakra. He gazed at the rock, trying to force it to give up its secrets through sheer force of will. All he knew was that he had to find a fracture line, which he thought he almost understood, and hit it harder than he would normally hit.

Abruptly, Shikamaru smacked him in the side of the head.

"Hey!"

Pursing his lips as the blond rubbed his temple, Shikamaru said, "Why didn't you have a clone punch the rock the first time, dummy? Then your hand wouldn't be busted!"

Naruto stopped rubbing, his cheeks taking on a faint blush as he mumbled something under his breath that sounded a lot like, 'neverthoughtofthat.'

Shikamaru threw his hands in the air. "It's getting dark," he said, doing nothing to hide the disgust in his voice. "Let's come back tomorrow—and don't give me that puppy dog look, we've been here for hours."

His shoulders slumping, Naruto said, "Fine, but you're still gonna help me, right?"

Giving his friend a patient smile, Shikamaru said, "Yes, Naruto, I'll still help." He looked around suddenly, lowering his voice as he added, "Just don't go spreading it around, ok? The last thing I need is a bunch of people calling me the ninja of love or something stupid like that."

As they started back toward the village, Naruto said, "That would be totally cool! You could have like, lovelove jutsu and passion chakra and…"

Shikamaru groaned. "God?" he sighed as Naruto rambled on, "What—_what_ did I do that was so bad?"

At the end of the second day, Naruto was no closer to breaking a boulder than he was to being Hokage. He, of course, would argue that this meant he was well on his way, but Shikamaru's opinion was that he was wasting his time on both. As the youngest Nara made his way back home, he pondered the stubbornness of his friend and wondered if there was any way he could talk Naruto into taking a few hours off to relax and think.

Often, he found, solutions to persistent problems appeared if you left them alone and came back to them with a clearer head.

"Not that he's ever _had _a clear head," Shikamaru mumbled to himself.

"Talking about Naruto?"

Looking up, Shikamaru found that Sakura was walking along at his side, her hands clasped behind her back as she matched his pace stride for stride.

"When did you get here?" he wondered. "I didn't even hear you."

Sakura grinned. "Well, I _am_ a ninja, you know," she said. "Besides, it's not like I was being sneaky. You've been so wrapped up in your thoughts you didn't even notice that cute girl trying to get your attention."

Looking around, Shikamaru wrinkled his brow.

"Who?"

Grinning even broader, Sakura pointed a thumb at herself.

Shikamaru was not amused. "Ha, ha," he deadpanned. "What did you need, Haruno?"

Sakrua's smile faltered a bit at the use of her family name, but she cleared her throat and said, "I just wanted to see how Naruto's doing. I haven't seen him since yesterday. Has he given up yet?"

"Oh, he won't give up," Shikamaru snorted. "That's his 'ninja way' you know. He'll never give up… especially not since you're the one who told him to do it."

Sakura gave him a sharp look. "Something on your mind, Nara?" she asked coolly.

Shikamaru stuck his hands in his pockets. "You know, when people say that, they don't really want an answer," he observed. "But I'm gonna say it anyway, so here it is: you suck."

"What?!"

"You heard me," Shikamaru said with a shrug. "Telling him to break a rock? You might as well have told him to drink up an ocean or uproot an oak tree."

Planting her hands on her hips, Sakura retorted, "So you think he can't do it?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Haruno, I _know_ he can't do it," he countered, "and so do you. Look, I don't really know what the 'situation' is between you with Sasuke on the lamb, but Naruto's been out there for two and a half days pounding on a rock because of you, and in my book," he paused for effect, "that translates into you, sucking."

"It's too bad you're so shy," Sakura mused. "Don't hold back. Tell me how you really feel."

The two stared at each other for a long moment, the air practically crackling around them as the force of their wills met.

Finally, Shikamaru yawned. "You're not as clever as you think," he said, turning around and starting off towards home. "It won't work, you know."

Sakura blinked. "Wait, what?"

"Just figured it out," Shikamaru said, not bothering to look back. "Please excuse my rudeness."

"Figured what out?" Sakura called after him. "Come back here, Nara, I'm not done with you!"

She glared at Shikamaru's back as if trying to mimic his shadow imitation technique to root him in place. When he kept walking, however, the pink-haired girl satisfied herself with sticking her tongue out and calling, "You're not as clever as _you_ think, either!" after him.

As Shikamaru rounded a corner, Sakura looked around, realizing suddenly that she was making a scene. She glared at a few gawkers before turning on her heel and striding off towards home.

"Men!"

Shikamaru's words troubled Sakura, causing her to toss and turn that night. She woke feeling bleary and cranky the next morning, and over the course of the day she snapped at two of the medical nins, dropped a tray of equipment (which then had to be re-sterilized), and got chewed out by Tsunade for being 'distracted' and 'bitchy.'

Overall, it was not a great day.

Trudging to the clearing where Naruto would be waiting was no picnic either. She was starting to have second thoughts about whether or not it had been a good idea to propose the bet in the first place. It was a bit too late to back out, but after talking to Shikamaru, she was questioning just how brutal it was to put Naruto through all of this.

She pushed these thoughts aside as she spotted Naruto leaning against a tree with his hands linked behind his head. "Hey," she called, waving as he looked her way. "How's the hand?"

Naurto pushed away from the tree, holding his hands out in front of him to show her that both were unmarked. "All better," he declared. "I heal fast—you know that."

Sakura nodded. She knew _why_ he healed that fast, but she didn't really like to talk about it. The idea of a nine tailed fox demon living inside of her friend still kind of gave her the creeps.

"So," she said after a delicate pause. "Ready to call it a day?"

Reaching down, Naruto scooped up a pebble.

"Not on your life."

With that, he turned and faced the boulder, holding the pebble tightly in his fist as he held his other hand palm-out towards it, squinting in concentration for a moment before a faint smile curled his lip. In one swift motion he pulled his arm back and hurled the pebble at the boulder with all of his strength. To Sakura's immense surprise, rather than bouncing off, the pebble hit the boulder like a jackhammer, breaking the huge rock cleanly in two with a loud _CRACK_.

Letting his arm fall to his side, Naruto whispered. "Dattebayo."

"S-sugoi," Sakura breathed. "How did you do that?"

Naruto stared at the damage he had inflicted, a faint frown on his face as he considered how best to answer.

"I read the rock."

Sounding confused, Sakura echoed, "You _read_ the rock? What does that mean?"

Stooping down, Naruto picked up another pebble. Bouncing it in his palm, he said, "You know how everyone's got a, what did Yamato-taicho call it? An affinity for a certain element? Well, mine's air."

So saying, he held his hand out, showing her the pebble, letting her see that it seemed to be encased in a miniature rasengen. Abruptly, the bubble of air vanished, and in that same second, Naurto spun on his heel and hurled the pebble at the rock Sakura had broken three days before. There was a tremendous cracking sound as the pebble hit, and the fissure Sakura had created instantly grew into a ravine, splitting the boulder the rest of the way.

"Air can do that?" Sakura blurted. "I had no idea it was that strong."

"It's not the air, really," Naruto said, tilting his head to survey his handiwork. "Well, it is, kinda, but it's knowing where to hit, too." He pointed to another rock, explaining, "Shikamaru gave me the idea when he was trying to help me find a way to break it. He said that every rock has a fracture point—you know, a place that's weaker than all the others. All you need to do is find that one spot and hit it as hard as you can."

With the throw of another pebble, a third boulder cracked cleanly in half.

"You can even break diamonds."

"That's amazing," Sakura said honestly. "How do you find the fracture point? And what did you do to the pebble? It looked like a jutsu, but then it vanished."

Naruto looked proud of himself. "It's all air," he said with some satisfaction.

Holding up another pebble, he repeated the process, creating a rasengen around the tiny rock. Sakura let out a slow, "ohhhh!" as he brought it closer to her eye, letting her see that the swirling sphere of air had not vanished, but tied itself around the tiny rock like a soap bubble, hugging the rocky contours almost close enough to be indistinguishable from the rock.

"It was another idea from Shikamaru," Naruto explained as the bubble faded away. "He has that chakra knife, you know? The one that holds whatever chakra you put into it? Well, I figured out that you can do the same with almost anything—it just won't last as long, since the chakra knife is designed specifically to hold it. If you put it into something like a rock," he held up the pebble, "the chakra will stay there for a few seconds." He let the rock fall to the ground, giving Sakura a grin. "Gives it that extra kick."

Glancing at the rock, he concluded, "Finding the fracture point is easy if you know how. All you have to do is put a burst of air chakra around the rock and pay attention to how it flows around it." He held out his hand, and Sakura found herself buffeted with a gentle zephyr, making her hair dance all around her head before vanishing as suddenly as it had sprung up. "See? Simple."

For a long moment, Sakura said nothing, studying Naruto closely with her jade green eyes before whispering, "Naruto, that level of control—to be able to put chakra into something that small, even if it's only for a few seconds… it's just incredible. And reading the chakra around an inanimate object just by sending air over it and seeing how it bounces? That's like echolocation—that's _huge!_" She blushed as she softly admitted, "You're amazing."

Naruto grinned and surprisingly seemed a touched embarrassed. "Yeah, I know," he said with a shaky laugh.

"Well, it's good to see you haven't forgotten your modesty, huh?" Sakura said with a chuckle. Eyeing the cracked boulder she missed his furtive glances. "Come on, goof, the ramen's on me this time."

Unexpected silence followed Sakura's declaration, forcing her to turn back to her teammate. Scratching the back of his head, Naruto gave her a crooked smile and said, "Listen, you ain't gotta if you don't want to, Sakura-chan."

"What?" Sakura asked. Emotional vertigo overcame her as she tried to reconcile this new information.

"I mean, I guess it was pretty unfair of me to use Shikamaru and stuff," Naruto said, avoiding eye contact. "And you know, I think obaa-chan gave you some of her bad luck so it'd be really unfair to take advantage of you and make you go on a date you didn't want to, right? That's something ero-sennin would do, so I'm not gonna be twistin' your arm over a couple bowls of ramen, though it'd probably be more like seven 'cause it's hungry work-"

Naruto cut his rambling short as Sakura stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his chest, pulling them together in a tight embrace. Stock still, Naruto was overcome by Sakura's closeness and warmth. Several awkward moments passed before he, too, wrapped his arms around her, hanging on her next few words, aching for them to be something profound and poignant.

"Why do you have to be so… so _stupid_?!"

Naruto's reply was something along the lines of, "Dur-huh??"

"Yeah," Sakura said, "I admit it, ok? I wanted you to fail. I never thought you'd find a way to break that rock—not in three days, or three _hundred_ days. I knew, I didn't think, I _knew_ you would fail, and when you did…" she searched his eyes, her lip trembling as she said, "when you did, I would get to tell you that you don't always have to be so strong, because if there's ever a time you're not strong enough to keep going… I'd be there to be strong enough for you."

Tears threatened to slip from her shimmering eyes as she snapped, "Are you happy now, you big fat idiot? You messed up the whole stupid plan over one date—one date! Stop trying so hard all the time! How can I fall in love with someone who's so strong he never _needs_ me, huh? Big, fat, stupid _idiot_!"

Standing dumbfounded, Naruto could only gape as Sakura swiped at her eyes and broke away from him. After a moment, he said, "Wait, so you're saying you were trying to manipulate me so you could take advantage of my emotional vulnerability?"

"…okay, when you say it like _that_, it sounds bad," Sakura said, frowning. "But… I guess I _did_ do that, huh?"

"A little bit," Naruto said.

"Oh god, I became _that_ woman," Sakura said, resting her head on Naruto's chest as she lamented. "Only a horrible person would do something so cruel and nuts and-"

"Really hot."

"-really hot," Sakura continued. "Who could care about- I'm sorry, did you say that was hot?"

"Totally!" Naruto exclaimed, nearly bursting with glee. "You look so cute when you're trying to get into my head."

"You really are an idiot," she chuckled weakly. A shiver ran through her body as she turned around and hugged her gooseflesh rippled arms. "And you m-made me lose my concentration on my jutsu. God, it's f-freezing out here!"

They still in icy silence for several long moments before Naurto shrugged out of his jacket and draped it carefully over Sakura's trembling shoulders. Once she was cloaked, he tentatively laid his hands on her shoulders, bowing his head as he muttered, "That's what you get for trying to teach an idiot like me a lesson like that. I'm too dumb to get it, ya know."

"You got that right," Sakura hiccupped, slowly moving her right hand up to twine her fingers with his. "You're like a savant or something. You come up with the most incredible jutsu on earth just to get a date that you would have gotten anyway. Jeez, learn how to read people."

Naruto nodded, still too much in shock to come up with a better retort. "So, umm, I guess you, ummm…"

"Love you?"

"Y-yeah…"

Sakura half turned and rested the side of her head against Naruto's chest. "I don't know about love, but I really like you," she mumbled. "Let's just start with that, ok?"

Naruto hesitated, then said, "Is it ok if _I_ say I love you? You don't have to say it back if you don't want to, ya know, but I, well, you know I've wanted to go out with you since we were like, eleven, and-"

"Yeah," Sakura cut in, shushing him before he moved from ramble to babble. "Yeah, it's fine, just, you know, it might take me a while to figure it all out, that's all."

"Ok."

"Ok."

They fell into a comfortable silence, content to just share each other's warmth in the cold, wintry night.

"Hey," Sakura suddenly exclaimed, pulling back from Naruto and fixing him with a piercing stare, "when you were showing me how you do the thing with the rock, and you hit me with that wave of air… were you reading my _body!?_"

Naruto froze, trapped like a deer in the headlights of an oncoming semi. "Umm," he hummed, "no…?"

Sakura held up her right hand, clenching it into a threatening fist. "Nar—u—to!"

"Guh!" Naruto blanched. "Sorry! I was just showing you how it worked!"

Narrowing her eyes, Sakura said, "You didn't have to 'read' the air when it came back! You might as well just snoop on me in the bath!"

"You s- er, I mean, I would never do that!"

There was another moment of silence… and Naruto broke into a frantic run, laughing as Sakura gave chase.

"Forgive me!" he shouted, laughing out loud as the pink haired girl stuck her tongue out at him without breaking stride. "Please, I… I love you!"

"Love won't save you from a beating, perv!" Sakura countered. "Get ready for some pain!"

The sight of Sakura chasing Naruto through the streets of Konoha was common enough that no one raised an eyebrow as the two tore through the village, hurling threats and taunts, respectively, as they went. Only Shikamaru, as observant as he was, detected the faint shift in Naruto's voice from playful and teasing to playful and adoring.

He shook his head as the two raced by him, grinning to himself as he whispered, "Guess you were strong enough after all."

As the pursuit continued, Shikamaru stuck his hands into his pockets and wandered in the opposite direction, refusing to admit that he was jealous of the jinchicuri and pondering weather or not a certain sand nin would be impressed if _he_ cracked a boulder in half.

"Eh," he muttered, "probably not."

Softly, Shikamaru began to whistle.

Strong Enough

End

Author's notes: got the idea for this one (well, kinda) from the Sheryl Crow song. Doesn't quite play out the way the song does but that's what got the ball rolling.

Doc Destructo was particularly helpful in reducing the amount of suck this go-round, so big thanks going out to him!


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